It’s NOT America; Saudi Arabia Has the Greatest Army and Highest Military expenditure in the World

Saudi Arabia is the number one supporter and controller of terrorist groups in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia is ranked 4th in the list of countries by military expenditures. The list shows that the country has planned to expend $63.7 Billion in military section of it budget. The figure accounts for 10 percent of GDP in Saudi Arabia which is the highest among the first twenty countries in the list. This shows the importance of military advancement for Saudi rulers which is by no means considered as a defensive strategy.

The expenditures for the Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Forces, Royal Air Defenses, and Royal Strategic Defenses as different sections of defense forces in Saudi Arabia is not to be compared with the US and China cost-wise. However, there are other facts that makes Saudi Army the biggest in the world.

Having 215 F-15 aircrafts, the Paveway IV, and special operation force could not be enough to make the country’s military functions the widest and largest in the world. There is one another element, however, that aides Saudi Arabia on the way; cash. Saudis are one of the biggest exporters of oil in the world. The income has enabled them through the years to promote their violent purposes in the region.

The recent deal between the United States and Saudi Arabia could, or must, be assessed under former revelations about Saudi’s backing terrorist groups in the Middle East. In a document revealed by WikiLeaks in 2016, a US Department Memoproves Saudi Arabia has lent hand in creation and providing financial support for ISIS. The Memo reads:

We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to Isis and other radical groups in the region.”

The memo is written when the US has felt the danger of the progresses and advancements of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. ISIS is only one of the groups made strong under the military and financial supports of Saudi rulers and donors.

Another WikiLeaks document shows that Al-Qaeda has also been supported by Saudi monarchy. Sent in December 2009, the cable read, “Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaeda, the Taliban, LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan.” Saudi kings and princes wants their power boosted in the region by destabilizing the countries and making wars by supporting the opposition forces and directing terrorist groups like ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and Jabhat Al-Nusra.

Besides financial and military support, ISIS and Al-Qaeda are ethologically trained by Wahhabis leaders in Saudi Arabia. As Professor Bernard Haykel says, “The ISIS’ religious genealogy comes from Salafism', a theological current that is very old that is quite literalist.” Wahhabis are extremists who run against all other Muslims using violence and justifying cruelty against human being.

“Thank God for the Saudis and Prince Bandar, and for our Qatari friends”; John Mc Cain’s words talking at the Munich Security Conference are illuminating. He was praising Prince Bandar, then the head of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence services and a former ambassador to the United States, for supporting forces against Bashar Al-Assad in Syria. These and numerous other documents and evidences proves that Saudis are the main leaders and runners of the terrorist groups in the region.

The $110 billion arms deal between the US and Saudi Arabia is in fact a deal between US, ISIS and Al-Qaeda considering the leading role of Saudi Arabia for these terrorist groups. The list of countries by military expenditure can be re-written considering Saudi forces in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other war-stricken countries of the region in the forms of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Jabhat Al-Nusra and other terrorist groups.

The Manquehue Institute for Strategic Studies is a civic organization that pursues both the development of strategic views on main topics related to Latin American countries aimed at the local people, and projecting a faithful image of this region to the world.